Characteristics of child passenger deaths and injuries involving drinking drivers

Context Motor vehicle-related injury is the leading cause of death for chil dren and young adults aged 1 to 24 years in the United States. Approximatel y 24% of child traffic deaths involve alcohol. Objective To examine characteristics of crashes involving child passenger d eaths and injuries associated with drinking drivers to identify opportuniti es for prevention. Design, Setting, and Participants Descriptive epidemiological analysis of 1 985-1996 data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System on deaths among U S child passengers (aged 0-14 years) and 1988-1996 data from the General Es timates System on nonfatal injuries. Main Outcome Measures Child passenger death or injury by driver characteris tics (eg, driver age, blood alcohol concentration, and driving history). Results In 1985-1996, there were 5555 child passenger deaths involving a dr inking driver. Of these deaths, 3556 (64.0%) occurred while the child was r iding with a drinking driver; 67.0% of these drinking drivers were old enou gh to be the parent or caregiver of the child, Of all drivers transporting a child who died, drinking drivers were more likely than nondrinking driver s to have had a previous license suspension (17.1% vs 7.1%) or conviction f or driving while intoxicated (7.9% vs 1.2%). Child restraint use decreased as both the child's age and the blood alcohol concentration of the child's driver increased. In 1988-1996, an estimated 149 000 child passengers were nonfatally injured in crashes involving a drinking driver. Of these, 58 000 (38.9%) were riding with a drinking driver when injured in the crash. Conclusions These data indicate that the majority of drinking driver-relate d child passenger deaths in the United States involve a child riding unrest rained in the same vehicle with a drinking driver. Typically, the drinking driver transporting the child is old enough to be the child's parent or car egiver.